T&T: What would you say is the biggest challenge for the CTA right now as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?
CTA: The biggest challenge has been mastering the balancing act: How do we provide service that’s essential to hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans while providing the healthiest environment for both customers and employees? We’ve met that challenge, thus far, through rigorous cleaning measures for buses, trains and stations; a commitment to providing as much service as possible; and extensive promotion of healthy travel habits. We’ve focused heavily on customer awareness and education, on everything from the importance of properly wearing a mask to practicing social distancing whenever they are on CTA vehicles or property.
T&T: In New York, the MTA launched a UV light pilot program to kill coronavirus on public transit. Is the CTA looking into adopting something like this? Any other plans in the works for combating the virus on CTA vehicles?
CTA: Even before the pandemic, CTA had one of the most rigorous cleaning regimens of any U.S. transit agency. Now more than ever, we are looking at new ways to provide an even cleaner, safer CTA travel environment. As such, we are in communication with officials at MTA regarding their piloting of UV lighting. We continue to seek out industry best practices and latest technologies and measures to further enhance cleaning efforts. For example, we recently added two new technologies: electrostatic sprayers that produce a fine-mist that clings to nearly every surface to ensure a more thorough cleaning, as well as use of an antimicrobial surface coating designed to prevent viruses from attaching to surfaces. We’ve also recently introduced our new Railcar Refreshers program—dedicated teams that are tasked with cleaning high-touch surfaces of in-service trains at all CTA rail terminals. We have also implemented new, mobile power-washing teams that clean 50-75 rail stations per week.
T&T: What are some of the safety measures the CTA has taken to promote social distancing on public transit vehicles and stations? What are some of the messages for the traveling public?
CTA: We are educating and encouraging our customers to act as our partners in the effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus and to continue the practices they’ve been following for the last several months, like wearing masks, social distancing, and washing their hands, etc. We have utilized a number of different mediums to engage our customers regarding the State Order to wear masks in public and maintain 6 ft of distance whenever possible, including social media, the CTA website (transitchicago.com), audio announcements in stations and on vehicles, extensive vehicle signage, social distancing floor decals, and added signage throughout rail stations; and the distribution of more than 12,000 free CTA Travel Healthy kits to date, which include a 2 oz. bottle of hand sanitizer, a reusable cloth mask and a healthy riding tips guide. We have also made changes to aspects of our day-to-day operations, such as real-time camera crowd monitoring at high-ridership rail stations, service monitoring and bus crowding management, which implements passenger limits aboard CTA buses. We have also introduced a Ridership Information Dashboard, a new tool to help customers better plan their transit trip with features like a bus crowding report, which provides an overview of available capacity for each of CTA’s 127 bus routes.
